To use Google custom search feature above, simply enter your search word and press SEARCH. This will quickly provide access to all the resources on this site.

SPAIN AND BAYREUTH, JULY 2013

Two amazing experiences this summer, a trip to Valencia for the 127th annual Wind Band Contest and the chance to hear some of the greatest bands in the world, followed by Bayreuth and Das Ring, unforgettable orchestral playing and singing, and a truly dreadful production which we booed for over half an hour. I attach a flavour of Valencia, with the full programmes and a link to the four obligatory works for the 127th Contest.

Links to Obligatory pieces for the 127th Certamen (Contest) Internacional de Bandas de Musica at the city of Valencia, 2013

José Suñer-Oriola studied harmony, analysis and counterpoint in the Valencia Superior Conservatory of Music before going on to study composition and conducting with Maestro Julio Ribelles.

He has taken part in the Music Festivals of Barcelona, Luxembourg, Maastricht, Innsbruck, Paris, Edinburgh, London, Tokyo, Shanghai and Cincinnati.

His compositions are published by Catalana d'Edicions Musicals (Barcelona), Blas-Basen (Stockholm, Sweden), and by Rivera Editores (Valencia) and are performed in Europe, the United States, South American, Japan and Australia.

He has been awarded: the Frederick Fennell composition prize in the First Tokyo Kosei Wind Orchestra Composition Competition in 2006 in Japan; the prize of the Société des auteurs, compositeurs et éditeurs de musique (SACEM) in France; third prize Coups de Vents in Lille in 2008; and he was a finalist in the Second Frank Ticheli Composition Contest in 2009 in New York.

In 2011 he was invited by the Middle Tennessee State University to give a master class about his works.

He has been a member, gaining the positions by public examination, of the San Sebastián Municipal Wind Band, the San Sebastián Conservatory, the Bilbao Symphony Orchestra and the Symphony Orchestra of the Gran Teatro del Liceo in Barcelona. He currently teaches the Valencia Municipal Band and is the Director of the Societat Musical "Eslava" of Albuixech.

He is a member of the World Association for Symphonic Bands and Ensembles (WASBE).

Fobos (del grec Φóβoς, "por/fòbia/pànic") is the larger of the two moons of the planet Mars.

In Greek mythology, Phobos was the son of Ares and Aphrodite and the personification of fear and terror.

The piece was conceived as a one movement symphony, in the style of the early symphonies of the eighteenth century, but with a developed structure and motifs. Phobos begins its thematic structure with the introduction of a leitmotif in I-VII-III, over the dominant of the dominant (V/V) of a so-called spatial tonality (a term referring to a tonality's basic identification information which is not reasserted by the tonality's development process).

In the introductory phase, diverse alphanumeric combinations are created on the basis of a symbiosis of letters representing the title of the work in relation to the Eb chromatic scale, as much for the rhythmic-melodic constructions of the woodwinds as for some of the chords struck by the brass instruments. Its later variations are constructed following the classical systems of musical development.

FRANCISCO BORT RAMÓN

Francisco Arturo Bort Ramón was born in Catarroja (Valencia) in 1963. He received his teaching qualifications from the Valencia Superior Conservatory of Music. His main teachers were: José Bort (Harmony), Gregorio Castellano and Antonio Daniel (Saxophone).

In 1987 he gained a position, through public examination, in the Valencia Municipal Band, where he is currently the Solo Saxophonist. He is a member of the "Studel Sax" saxophone ensemble, whose members are all Valencia Municipal Band teachers.

A self-taught composer, he has written over twenty works ranging from chamber music to symphonic pieces. He is a member of the Sociedad General de Autores (SGAE) and COSICOVA (the association of Valencian symphonic composers).

His symphonic works for band include: "Llegendes" and "Ocurrències", which were compulsory pieces in the 2000 and 2003 editions of the International Wind Band Contest "City of Valencia". To commemorate the centenary of the Valencia Municipal Band he wrote a work entitled "Des de 1903" which was premiered by the aforementioned group in a special concert in the gardens of the Palau de la Músic in July 2002, conducted by Pablo Sánchez Torrella. His work "Variaciones Irónicas" won the Madrid "Maestro Villa" prize in 2007.

All his symphonic works have been performed by the Valencia Municipal Band in the Palau de la Música under the baton of the band's principal conductor, Pablo Sánchez Torrella. Moreover, Enrique García Asensio, the principal conductor of the Madrid Symphonic Municipal Band, has included his works "Llegendes" and "Variaciones Irónicas" in the group's concert repertoire on numerous occasions with great success. Other municipal bands, such as those of Bilbao, Barcelona, San Sebastián, Castellón, Alicante, Seville and Malaga, regularly perform his works.

In the chamber music genre he has written works for a wide range of ensembles: soloist with piano, duos, saxophone quartets, classical and brass quintets, among others.

On 27 May 2012, in the Palau de la Música in Valencia, the Valencia Municipal Band, conducted by its new principal conductor, Fernando Bonete Piqueras, premiered his latest symphonic composition for band, a symphonic poem entitled "Joglaresca".

VARIACIONES IRÓNICAS

A symphonic work for band which, although conceived as a single piece, is structured in eight parts or variations which are subtitled: Preludi, Joc d'ànecs, Tango, Interludi, Coral, Irònica, Postludi and Coda.

Starting with two melodic themes and two rhythmic cells, the piece advances, weaving its web. The themes continue to alternate and combine, creating new themes as they progress. All of them are subject to the different timbres and sounds provided by the band's wind and percussion families.

This piece won the 2007 Madrid "Maestro Villa" Prize for Composition for Symphonic Band. It was premiered by the Madrid Municipal Symphonic Band, conducted by Enrique García Asensio, in a concert on 25 November 2008 in the Madrid Teatro Monumental.

ALEXANDER COMITAS

Alexander Comitas (pseudonym for Ed de Boer, born 1957) studied piano with Thom Bollen, composition with Hans Kox at the Utrecht Conservatory, and orchestral conducting with Anton Kersjes at the Maastricht Conservatory. From 1981 to 1990 he worked as a freelance pianist for the Dutch radio orchestras and choir. Then he decided to dedicate himself entirely to composing.

Since 1981 Comitas has been writing his music almost exclusively on commission. He composed an orchestral overture on the occasion of the opening of the Enschede Music Centre in 1988 (which he later reworked for wind orchestra); for the opening season of the Eindhoven Frits Philips Music Centre (1992) he wrote the cantata The Wedding of the Moon and Sun; and he composed his first violin concerto for the opening of the Tilburg Concert Hall, in 1996. He has written three operas, three symphonies, two ballets, two string quartets and many other works, including many compositions for choir, symphony orchestra and wind orchestra.

Several of his compositions for wind orchestra served as test pieces for the concert department during World Music Contests WMC in Kerkrade: in 1995 his Armenian Rhapsody Nr. 1 for symphonic wind orchestra, in 2001 A Night on Culbin Sands, also for symphonic wind orchestra, and in 2009 Brass for fanfare orchestra. His Vita Aeterna Variations served as an A section test piece during the 2012 European Brass Band Competition EBBC in Rotterdam. During the WMC 2013, his Vita Aeterna for fanfare orchestra will serve as a test piece for the first division and his Armenia inspired third symphony, A Tribute to Komitas, will be premiered.

In addition to his composing activities, Comitas has been active as as a pianist and conductor of his own works. He also gives courses and lectures on composing all over Europe and teaches basics of composition at the Leopold Mozart Centre of Augsburg University.

CAUCASIAN EPODE

Caucasian Epode was commissed by the Nederlands Instituut voor Blaasmuziek (the Dutch Institute for Wind Band Music).

It was inspired by folk music from the Caucasus region, particularly Armenia. Alexander Comitas first came across this music in the 1980s and since then the composer has written numerous works which exhibit the influence of this discovery, such as the three Rapsodias Armenias for band; the cantata La boda de la Luna y el Sol for soloists, choir and symphonic orchestra; and a chamber opera called De Russenoorlog about the Georgian uprising on the Dutch island of Texal at the end of the Second World War.

The three Rapsodias Armenias only feature existing folk melodies. Meanwhile in Caucasian Epode the composer invents a melody, although the significant influence of Armenian folk music can still be heard.

The piece is structured in sonata form: an exposition of the themes, then a development of these themes, followed by a recapitulation of the exposition, preceded by a slow introduction. In this introduction, fragments of the theme alternate loudly (forte) with fragments played softly (piano). The soft melody (piano) will appear later in the allegro as a "sung theme". Toward the end of the piece, this theme appears in counterpoint to one of the themes in the allegro.

MARTÍNEZ GALLEGO

Francisco José Martínez Gallego started studying music in the Music School of the S.M. "La Armónica" in San Antonio, and later went on to study in the Conservatories of Murcia, Torrent and Valencia, where he received his degree in clarinet.

In 1998 he began to take an interest in band conducting and started to further his studies with José Rafael Pascual Vilaplana.

However, it was in composition where he was to achieve his maximum potential. He furthered his training with Daniel Flors, Miguel Ángel Matéu and Teodoro Aparicio.

In 2010 he finished his degree in composition at the Superior Conservatory of Castellón, where he was taught by Ferrer Ferrán, César Cano, Miguel Ángel Berbis, Claudia Montero, Jesús Vizcaino and Emilio Calandín.

In 2000 he won first prize in the First Altea National Festive Music Contest and in 2002 he also won first prize in the Second Calpe Festive Music Composition Contest. In 2005 he won first prize in the symphonic music composition contest for the Finestrat Wind Band. In 2009 he won first prize in the Sant Joan de Moró Pasodoble Composition Competition. He has won numerous accessit prizes, awards for second place and reached the final of many composition contests.

He has composed an extensive catalogue of work, including more than 20 pasodobles, Moorish marches, procession marches, chamber music and symphonic music for band and orchestra.

He is a member of SGAE, COSICOVA and ACMMIC.

EL AGUA PRODIGIOSA

"El agua prodigiosa" takes us back to the Middle Ages to tell us about the adventures of Johan and Peewit, two characters created and drawn by Pierre Culliford, known as "Peyo".

Two characters who are not as famous today as they deserve to be, mainly due to the appearance in their stories of a group of small blue creatures known as the Smurfs.

Johan is young, intelligent, brave and skilled with a sword. He is the main character of the stories. Peewit is his companion. He has the face of a naughty child who has matured in body but not in mind. He is always hungry and his love of music leads him to compose rapidly and play dreadful, tuneless songs on all kinds of instruments, causing people to flee from him as if he were a kind of reverse Pied Piper of Hamelin.

In this adventure, our heroes travel to a remote location in search of a magical water source to help the residents of a village defeat a witch who has made them weak, defenseless and feeble. On their journey they come across the soldiers of an evil lord, ogres, wizards, snakes, danger and an array of events which finally resolve themselves in a happy ending.

The structure of the piece, because of its descriptive nature, follows the plot development of this story.

This work is a worthy tribute to these two likeable characters who have been forgotten by some and remain unknown to most.

He is currently the conductor of the S. M. "El Arte" of Sinarcas (Valencia) and teaches clarinet, harmony, analysis, and composition at the Quart de Poblet "Mestre Molins" Training Center.